In recent years increased emphasis has been placed on the health and well-being of people. A person's physical well-being can be maintained or improved by exercising. This is evidenced by the amount of exercise equipment now available and the volumes of current literature written on the subject matter.
Dynamic exercising, that is, the physical movement of the body with or without associated exercising equipment, has a positive affect on a person's health. Static exercises have recently been found to also contribute to the mental and physical well-being of a person. Static exercising, as defined herein, is meant to embrace those types of exercises which do not necessarily involve vigorous bodily movements to provide a therapeutic effect on the musculature, skeletal or organs of the human body.
Static exercises may be of the type which require the use of the well-known gravity boots, in which a person is suspended upside down for a period of time. The therapeutic effect afforded this type of static exercise is believed to be the stretching of the body to offset the opposite effect created by gravity. The inverted posture is also known to increase the flow of blood to a person's head. Various other internal organs of the body also benefit from such a posture. However, with this approach to static exercising, the stretching of the body tissue makes the posture uncomfortable, and even untolerable only after a few minutes. Moreover, many people require the assistance of others to put them in such a suspended inverted position, and also there is always the danger of falling and injuring one's self.
Inclined tables are also well known in the art, and provide a conventional platform for either dynamic or static exercising. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,658,754; 3,561,022; 3,570,479; 4,136,868; 4,241,915 and 4,383,684 are exemplary of the construction of such inclined tables. While any inclined structure is suitable for elevating one portion of a person's body with respect to another portion, a problem arises in preventing the person from sliding down the inclined structure. Various feet engaging structures disclosed in the noted patents anchor the exerciser's feet such that the undesired movement of the body down the incline is prevented. However, the foot engaging apparatus thus disclosed is not easily applied or engaged to a person's feet. The engagement of the feet within the anchor apparatus of the noted patents is further exacerbated because of the inclined nature of the table. By this it is meant that it becomes overly difficult, especially for aged or handicapped persons, to place their feet in the anchor apparatus while sitting or lying on the inclined table. The same problem exists when the person desires to dismount the incline table after exercising.
It can be seen from the foregoing that a need has arisen for exercise equipment which includes feet engaging apparatus that is easily applied or removed from the feet of the exerciser.